Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research (Senator Evans) to a question without notice asked by Senator Payne today relating to housing.

The words of the minister this afternoon in relation to housing seem to me to be more than slightly delusional, because we have a housing shortage which continues without abate to grow out of control. We learnt only today, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, that dwelling commencements fell again. They fell this time by 12.6 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in the March 2012 quarter, which is actually a drop of 24.5 per cent in the past year—a drop of almost 25 per cent in dwelling commencements. If that is not a serious issue for concern in relation to housing in this country, then in fact nothing is.

Those on the other side can talk all they like about previous investments in housing, but there is a complete lack of priority applied in this area currently and certainly they outlined no vision to improve supply and affordability in the recent budget. That is even so under existing programs, so let us look at the National Rental Affordability Scheme, known as NRAS. Just 16 homes out of an allocation of 1,186 homes in the Northern Territory will have been completed before the 1 July 2012 deadline—16 out of 1,186! That occurred in the third round of the scheme after no dwellings at all were allocated in rounds 1 and 2.

What the National Housing Supply Council report shows is that the Northern Territory already has the largest estimated shortfall relative to the number of households, at 15 per cent—and the latest failure in NRAS will only increase that shortage. The situation is not much better in New South Wales, nor in Queensland. As I outlined, in trying to get answers from the minister in my question, the carbon tax is only going to increase building costs and provide a disincentive to build a new home at a time when we can least afford it. As my colleague Senator Cash said during question time, the great Australian dream is fading rapidly into the distance under this government and particularly in relation to housing supply. If you are a resident of Western Sydney and you are looking at a $208 a year increase in your electricity bill from 1 July, why would you be looking at building a new home? You would not be.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fact: you support the carbon tax.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, $5,200 for people who are not in the privileged position that we enjoy is the difference between signing on the bottom line and not. It is pretty simple: $5,200, as the Housing Industry Association estimates after compensation, will make the difference in people signing up to build their own new home.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You support it; that is pretty simple.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You might think that is a joke, but it most certainly is not. After compensation, a sum of $5,200 is really going to focus the attention of those people, and it is not particularly easy to find an extra $5,200 out of mid air. Even today, we have had further releases from organisations like the Housing Industry Association commenting on the decline in commencements. They have highlighted the urgency of the need for investment and reform to boost new housing supply. That is hardly rocket science; it actually is not. Nevertheless, we have the government still refusing to take serious note of this, as far as I can tell. The Chief Executive Officer of the Master Builders Association of Australia, Wilhelm Harnisch, today issued a statement saying:

A new survey of the building and construction industry has found a massive 88 per cent of those polled believed the carbon tax will hurt their business over the next 12 months.

These are not the sorts of people that those opposite love to attack every day. These are not people you can gratuitously slam, as those opposite slam Gina Rinehart or Mr Palmer. These are small business operators. They are subbies; they are people who are plumbers and tilers—the sorts of people you would hope Labor would find some capacity to defend and support. But apparently not. We also see, as the MBA says:

... homebuyers are delaying their decisions as they assess the impact of the carbon tax.

The carbon tax will have such a regressive, catastrophic result on the housing industry and new home building that it should not be proceeded with.

Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was fortunate a couple of months ago to visit the Matthew Talbot Hostel in Sydney. The hostel, and its work, is well known in the community for supporting and providing assistance to those who find themselves in the unfortunate circumstance of homelessness and living on the streets in Sydney. It is a wonderful organisation. It does fantastic work in assisting people who have fallen on hard times and who find themselves homeless. But I was struck by the conversation I had with one of the youth workers who was working at Matthew Talbot that day. I pushed him on the point of providing access to public housing for people who find themselves homeless, and his comment stuck with me. He said that at this point in time access to public housing has never been more opportune and that from the perspective of Matthew Talbot Hostel there have been no problems in getting people into public housing. There are always a host of other issues, such as mental illness, associated with providing people with homes, but I was struck by his comment that the stock of public housing has been increasing. That is a simple fact and correlates with this government's massive investment in public housing in the wake of the global financial crisis, increasing the housing stock to ensure that more is available for people who are accessing public housing not only in New South Wales but throughout the country.

Senator Payne makes comment about the housing shortage in New South Wales. She is right: there is a housing shortage when it comes to the mid to upper levels of housing in New South Wales. There is one reason for that—that is, the O'Farrell government has made a complete mess of the planning system in New South Wales. Talk to any developer in New South Wales at the moment and they will tell you that the system has been shut down by the planning minister, Brad Hazzard, in New South Wales. There is a complete shutdown of the system. What are they doing? They are undertaking a review. They have been doing this review since they came to government. For the last 12 months they have been undertaking a review of the housing system. If you talk to the people who are attempting to build and supply the housing stock they will tell you it is in complete shutdown. There is no incentive at all to invest in housing in that mid to upper range of housing in the housing market. So here we have a contrast: housing is being provided through the public system as a result of our investment in public housing, but the private sector incentive has been removed because the O'Farrell government has made a complete joke of the planning system. People are waiting to find out.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Would you rather the Eddie Obeid system of planning?

Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tell us, Senator Payne: what is the planning system in New South Wales? How does it work? What are the results of the review? On top of that, those who are living in public housing and who have received the government's compensation associated with the carbon price have been compensated for the cost of the carbon price—an increase in pension to the value of $338 per year if they are single and $510 per year if they are a pensioner couple. But what does Barry O'Farrell do? As the money comes into one pocket, Barry O'Farrell puts his hand in the other and takes half of it out. Twenty-five per cent of the income of a pensioner will go in rent because of Barry O'Farrell.

The facts about the carbon price are well understood. There will be a 0.7 per cent increase in the GST. That is what is being modelled by the Treasury and that is what the result will be. To cushion the effects of that transition, households and families, in particular those on fixed incomes—pensioners, people living on Newstart and people living on single parent allowances—will get compensation to make that transition to a clean energy future. But, unfortunately, Barry O'Farrell is putting his hand in their pockets unjustifiably and taking out some of that increase.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I remind senators to address people by their correct titles, especially members of other parliaments.

Question agreed to.